I've pointed out quite often something that certainly comes as no surprise to many other people, but the point of spending bills like the 2021 infrastructure spending package is... the spending. Actually getting anything built is a distant concern.
The charging station spending earmarked in that bill is a great example of that:
Biden signed the bipartisan infrastructure package into law in 2021 with $7.5 billion specifically directed toward EV chargers, with an eye toward achieving his goal of building 500,000 chargers in the United States by 2030.
The number of charging stations that have been built in the three-plus years since the spending was approved is low. One Republican congressman had this to say last month:
Pete Buttigieg will leave his post as Transportation Secretary having spent $7.5 BILLION to build 8 EV charging stations.
— Michael Rulli (@michaelrulli) November 24, 2024
His legacy will be squandering billions on something nobody wants, while millions struggle to afford the things they need. pic.twitter.com/iIQzvkPfTJ
Just eight charging stations?
Well, PolitiFact has pointed out why that's not true. The actual number of stations built is 38, PolitiFact says:
U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, claimed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spent $7.5 billion on eight electric vehicle charging stations. The claim pulls from a March article, but 30 more stations have since been completed, with more planned. https://t.co/OZGAPeAmeV
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) December 10, 2024
I couldn't help but add some snark...
Oh, OK, 38 charging stations built three years after the $7.5 billion was appropriated is way better.
— Doug Powers (@ThePowersThatBe) December 10, 2024
🙄🙄🤦♂️ https://t.co/50egBbsEwQ
Bureaucracy: Moving at the speed of Big Government!
OK, so what's 7.5 billion divided by 38??
— The Watchdog (@TheWatchdogDBQ) December 10, 2024
Talk about "damning with faint praise"....
If it took three years to build 38 chargers the sun will have collapsed into a white dwarf by the time we get anywhere near the half-million chargers that was the goal in the infrastructure bill.
Well, alrighty then. We got 38 chargers for $7.5 B. Sounds like we finally got our money's worth.
— Ralph Carpenter (@RalphWCarpenter) December 10, 2024
Thanks for the clarification, Politifact.
The media makes these things about Republican "incorrect claims" when the real story is about bloated and crooked Big Government wasting our money and never reaching the stated goal (see California high speed rail for another example).
Here's a bonus bit of how "our electric future" will take forever to reach (because it's not feasible):
Meanwhile, only 93 out of the 3,000 electric mail trucks promised by Biden have been delivered.
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) December 13, 2024
That’s just 3.1%.
That’s not only a beyond-pathetic number. It’s a colossal waste of tax payer dollars in service of a radical agenda. https://t.co/veETN5NG5W pic.twitter.com/xZbwi0gPB5
PolitiFact will soon do a story saying the claim that "only 93 out of the 3,000 electric mail trucks promised by Biden have been delivered" is FALSE because the real number is 95.
Again, Biden, Buttigieg and the rest don't really care because the spending was the point. "Climate change" is just the excuse. Meanwhile somebody's getting richer from all this, and it's not you or me. If "journalists" wanted to chase a story, there's a big one. Instead most of them just report "actually 30 more chargers were built that the Republicans say" and think they've done their jobs as "fact-checkers."
